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1812 8 Street Southeast, Calgary

Year of Construction: 1905

My daughter and I have lived in this adorable Century home for the past 14 years. There are stained glass windows on the main floor and there is a claw bathtub in the upstairs bathroom. This house has had numerous upgrades, including an entire section added onto the back sometime in the late 1970′s which nearly doubled it in size.

The earliest resident on record that I could find was an H. Vandermeere. According to the 1912 license registry, license #888 was issued to an H. Vandermeere of 1812-8 Street East on June 12, 1912 for $12.50. It was a hegagonal shaped bronze license for a 1912 “double dray”, a low, heavy cart. In 1921, Alex Horb resided in this house. He was a labourer for P. Burns & Co. In 1923 William Carby lived here. Records indicate he was a labourer with Imperial Oil, Yorkshaw Riel Co. In the 1970′s a man named Whitfield owned the house. He did major renovations. In 1993 the house was purchased and further upgraded by Mike & Maureen Sheppard, business owners. After having their third little girl, they had outgrown the house. It was Maureen’s father who created the five panels of lovely stained glass.

We were looking for a house to buy in 1998. I just wasn’t finding anything I truly liked. When I walked into this one, I fell in love immediately. My wonderful neighbours next door, Ralph and Dot Eloff, have filled in so much history about my house as they have lived next door since the 1960′s! One interesting bit of information I wasn’t aware of, is that houses next to each other back in the day had shared sewer lines! When our shared, cracked line was dug up and replaced several years ago we had the option to separate the lines…we chose not to . When you look at the front of our houses, you’ll see a guard rail. I found it unsightly at first and suggested we get rid of it. Ralph and Dot explained it served a very important purpose. There is a bend in the road just where our houses are. In the past, after having a few too many at the local bar, drivers have missed that bend and landed in our front yards! I found the story hard to believe, but about 6 years ago, I was sitting in my front living room with a friend and suddenly heard a loud thud. I ran outside and what I saw made me thankful for the guard rails. An intoxicated motorcyclist missed the bend, hit and flew over the rail and landed on my sidewalk. If not for the rail, he might have come through my front window! (By the way, he did survive the crash).

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